Hot Rods People. They're the worst...

A heritage-styled economy wagon and sedan delivery styled after the 47-54 Suburban that gm sold about 15-20 years ago in North America. You didn't get it over there.

No, that was the SSR.

Yeah, that's the acronym meaning. They had the wagon styled after the 47-54 suburban and the sedan delivery.

SSR. Expensive. I drove one once, it was fast but didn't compare to the same year Corvette I drove with the same horsepower.

 

I still enjoy the cruises and cruising to the car show with friends and yes sometimes people are interesting. Now an Old Timer, Been There and Done That I do not let anyone's BS bother me, It's easy to walk away rather than have a discussion with some AssHat. When I start coming home unhappy it will be time to do something different. I will say that now that I participate with OT survivor cars it seems I attract a different type of social circle at events, All is Good, Happy and Thankful to be here and still able to still enjoy the car hobby. Have a Great Day ! Spring is finally here in the great NorthWoods of Wisconsin. Woo Hoo !

 

That's great advice, but I have the bar set fairly low already.

 

Weirdos even come in the form of car people too.

Dude that I've never met personally at the end of my street has had a 64 Thunderbird for a couple years. Doesn't seem to drive it much, just sits parked outside, sometimes under a cover. His family also has 2 Teslas, which I think is ironic considering how much of a pig the FE 390 is on gas. Maybe he figures it averages out to a normal carbon footprint. Anyway, I was driving my 61 Olds yesterday to meet some friends at the local VFW, and I see him sitting on the ground reaching under the dash and has the hood open. I pull up and tell him I like his Thunderbird, and that I had one very similar to it a few years ago that I had sold. He replied that the emergency brake pedal was stuck buried to the floor and wouldn't release, and asked if I could help him. I took a quick look at it, knowing that there would be a way to release the pawl from the pedal, but I wasn't sure to which point to pry with a screwdriver without consulting a shop manual or schematic, so I told him to check it out online before he just starts prying on stuff.

He walked over to my Olds, and starts checking it out, telling me how it's just like his Thunderbird. I smile and nod. That smile is immediately removed when he leans his big ass elbow on the roof of my Olds. I ask him nicely to not touch my car, which I incorrectly assume is just common knowledge among car people to not touch other people's rides, and he obliges.

I give his car a quick look over. I know the car is for sale on FB Marketplace and has been for over a year, but I don't let on that I know that. The car has an old, worn interior and the seats have some holes in them down to the springs. The bottom of the car is bubbling badly under the white single stage paint. The chrome has been painted over in a grey metallic. He's recently lowered his asking price $10K, down to $6K, which is still wishful at best. I decide it's time to end this interaction and wish him luck with his ebrake, and hit the road.

 

I went to pick some stuff up from an auction a couple years ago, close-out of a vintage Ford parts supplier. I had to go in-person to the auction yard to pay before going to another location to pick my stuff up. I had my 62 Bel Air, auction yard walks up wearing ready gloves and says "sweet car" and proceeds to lean on my car right below the driver's window with both gloves. I said "Can you please not lean on my car with your greasy gloves?" Sure, I could have left out the greasy gloves part, but it pissed me off quite a bit. He got real snotty after that. You'd think that would be common sense, but apparently he had none.

For context I had just cleaned and polished the whole car.

 

Kinda like how people call all Chevelle's Malibu's

 

The SSR was the retractable roof RWD pick up from the early 2000s. Driveline and chassis were based on the S and T series Trailblazers and early Colorado pick ups, as I recall. The HHR was a FWD crossover-type of vehicle largely based on the same platform as the Chevy Cobalt.

 

Thanks Guys..
Funny that my interest in knowing all details of new model design began to wane when I received my license in '64.

Around the year 2000, I really did not care any more.

 

Ouch..

 

I try to be nice to folks, I know some people just like cars, but may not be knowledgeable about older cars! One of the grandsons is into cars, but he likes the newer cars ! He was telling me about an older “new” car, I didn’t have a clue about what he was talking about! We both like cars and I guess that is the important thing. He has no clue about a 1965 FE long tube iron exhaust manifold and I have no idea about a turbo xyz! But at least we are communicating !





Bones

 

Had an NOS F-100 steering wheel, 50s version. Good stuff, right? I had $300 on it at Hershey. "If it was $100 I'd buy it." "Well, if my aunt had a dick she'd be my uncle." He left. I sold it an hour later for $250. No, not to my uncle

 

Since we’re all having fun being pedantic and whatnot, the first corvettes were wooden. But yes, there were steel corvettes before the fiberglass Chevrolet cars came along.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette

 

a number of times I have been out in coupe get asked "what colour is it"
I tell them it is green, then I get a mouthful of language
one day when I would not tell a fellow what red it was , he gave me a mouthful
and said he would bring his painter down to check colour so he could get his VW painted same
Lil

 

If everyone you meet is a goober ……

there’s a common denominator

 

Yeah, you are attractive to goobers!

 

I shot this photograph about 20 years ago down at Toledo Washington, at a cool little tractor pull out in the country. These two people actually know each other, so don't be fooled by the expression on the cool lady, tractor drivers face. You all can add your own caption as you see fit in regard to the theme of this thread!
Enjoy from Dennis.

 

Had a disassembled engine that needed a rebuild posted I think for $300. Guy calls me, asks a bunch of questions and then says "If I could put it together and have it running I'd pay that for it." I said "I bet you would." That was the end of the conversation.

 

"This is a fine time to tell me you are my brother"!!!

 

And I have said when the spaceship that dropped us off, lands to check up on how well we did, hide.

 

I get the Nomad thing, I always say "I wish", without a Nomad nearby, it's hard to point out all the major differences.

Best comment at Turkey Run, was a Wild Dodge non HAMB friendly, over the top Good Guys build set up next to me. 4hrs later I came back, He said congratulations, nobody looked at my ***** , they took pics of your wagon, muttering some word Patina... What is that?

 

A long time transmission tech, friend and co-worker at the dealership where I worked was fond of saying things like "Nobody has more fun than people." You can't argue with that kind of logic!

 

As far as people who don't know our cars, a lot of them are in my car club which I find rather odd. However, they are a nice bunch of people, they do like cars, and as I grow older, I do need to foster new friendships.

 

I have a 57 Fairlane 500 that looks the same as the day I pulled it out of a pasture. Had a guy ask me what year it was . I told him it was a 57 , he tells me his brother had one that looked just like it but it was a 64 . I told him that Ford liked the body lines so much that they kept making them for several years . I’ve got a homemade tractor that’s powered by a 4 hp Cushman binder engine. ( the one in my avatar) Had an expert tell me that the brake line that I used for a fuel line should be removed and replaced with hard fuel line . That it would break and cause problems. I just smiled and walked away

 

I totally agree. I think fostering friendships at any age is a good thing, and it helps to have a diverse set of interests to help facilitate that.

Obviously we're here because we love traditional rods and customs, but let's face it, there can be a significant schism even between people who fit in here. Drag racers, rodders, and customizers may have little to no overlap in terms of their interests. It's not a stretch to think that folks with automotive interests outside of our genre would be in our close orbit.

I've also found that as I've gotten older, (not old, just older haha), sometimes it's nice to get away from the cars for a bit. I'm blessed to have friend groups through my involvement in cars, but also folks I play and coach hockey with, play music with, work with or work in the same field, or even just nice parents of my kid's friends. It doesn't make you any less devout in the car hobby to branch out a bit

 

Very well said!

 

I had exactly the same thing happen to me at Valla park rod run in australia. Guy walked round and round my 32 roadster for ages while we watched him. He finally said, that car is blue isnt it? I replied yes it is. He then said. What color blue? I just replied dark blue. He was not impressed as everyone thought it was funny except him.

 

Years ago, when we were in a car club that had a lot of "well off" car owners in it (I still don't know why they let me and my junk join), we were at a car show.

One of the guys (Bob) that is normally pretty nice, had a very nice street rod version of a 32 Ford coupe. The car was a very high dollar ride with custom paint (He called it "Dana Red" because it was painted by a person named Dana that had a paint company create a specific red tint just for their use). This car was supposed to have been the last car "Dana" painted, and Dana had passed away at that point (as I understood it). He was pretty picky about anyone touching his coupe, he had little signs and stuff made to protect the car's paint, and stood near by watching it all the time.

At that show, a guy in his mid 30s was walking around with an older gentleman, and at each car, they would stop and the younger guy would explain different aspects of the car to the older guy. When they got to Bob's car, Bob went out and was talking with them. Pretty soon, the old guy was running his hands all over Bob's car, and Bob was pulling the signs off as he was walking around the coupe with the guy, as he was "petting" the coupe. The 3 guys with me were all well confused about what Bob was doing, and wondered why he was letting the guy feel his car. It wasn't ten minutes earlier Bob was really handing out the riot act to a couple of other 30 year old guys for not understanding the "DO NOT TOUCH" signs on his car.
After the old guy and his younger companion left, Bob came to the back of his car to get his cleaning supplies to clean the old guy's fingerprints off the Dana Red. Of course we questioned him.
He told us the old guy was legally blind but could still sort of see, his grandson was with him, and was describing any car the old guy liked. He really liked Bob's car, and when Bob found out he could "see" the car better if he could touch it, Bob pulled the signs and told the guys grandson to help him see the car really well. Bob walked around the car with them, explaining and pointing out the different things on his car.
Bob said that helping the old guy "see" his coupe was the best experience he had had in a very long time. The paint would survive just fine.
The other young guys were just jerks.

Maybe we should try to be more like Bob.

 

^^
Hey Gene, by and large we really are. I love good discourse. Agree, don't, it doesn't matter as long as it's in good spirit and context. That's ½ the juice of this shit. But on topic this is about what apparently a lot of us have experienced that's not acceptable. Personally I try very hard NOT to judge other's stuff or at the very least not be verbal about it. The fact is their car is in whatever venue I'm at and mine is still under construction. They're having fun with it and that's what it's ultimately all about. See? I'm not a total dick.



No really, I'm not.

 

It sure would be nice if we had a few threads on "What was your best interaction" rather than ones where a slight from years ago is what gets posted or complaints about the parts counter guy needing YMM to look up stuff in the computer because there aren't any catalogs.
Seems like it's a bunch of grump old dudes here!